Charlie Huston - Already Dead

– Hey, Tom, if it comes to that, it comes to that. No problem. But let's just get the ball rolling with a few simple questions, OK?

– Fuck questions! I want a full interrogation into this right fucking now.

Terry walks over to Tom, nodding his head.

– Tom. I think I need you to take a walk.

– What? No fucking.

– Hurley.

– Yeah.

– Take Tom for a walk.

Tom stares at him.

– No fucking.

Terry holds up his hand, index and middle fingers spread in a peace sign.

– Cool it, Tom. Take a walk. Now.

– This is fucking.

Terry puts the hand on Tom's shoulder.

– What, Tom? This is fucking what?

He gazes into Tom's eyes, and Tom shuts up.

– That's it, right, man? You're done? You're cool?

Tom nods.

– Yeah. I'm cool, Terry.

– Good. So take a walk.

He pats him on the shoulder and watches as Hurley leads him up the steps.

– Lydia.

Lydia looks up from the cup of coffee she's been staring into since I came in.

– You mind taking a walk with the boys?

– Nope.

She follows them up the stairs without looking at me. Terry Waits until they are gone and the door closes. Then he comes over to the old card table and sits down across from me.

– He's a firebrand that one, very passionate in his beliefs.

I play with my Zippo.

– That must help.

– I don't follow, Joe.

– Well, I sometimes get the feeling you're grooming him for my old spot. He'll do a good job. He likes cracking the whip.

Terry shakes his head.

– Nobody will ever do that job as good as you, Joe. You were the best.

– Yeah, well, those days are over.

– They don't have to be. You could always come back.

I don't need to answer that, so I light a smoke instead. Terry holds up his hand.

– I'd rather you didn't.

– Right.

I put the smoke out.

– See you got back OK.

– Yes.

– How'd it go up there?

He sighs.

– It's not like the old days, Joe. Digga is a much different man than Luther was. Luther was from my school, a revolutionary, not a reactionary. He was there in the sixties, saw how change can really happen. Luther made some of that change. It's hard now to explain how big a change that was, getting the Coalition to give up the top of the island. Man, truth be told, I don't know if we could have ever gotten our independence down here if it hadn't been for Luther X. Kid like Grave Digga, history doesn't mean much to him. But I think I got him to see some light. He knows he can't go making war by himself, and he knows we aren't about to join in with his hostilities, even if the Coalition did assassinate Luther. You can't change the world if your motive is revenge. Vibes like that just aren't productive.

– Uh-huh. So how'd you get back down?

– I was able to make an arrangement. You can always make an arrangement if you're patient and flexible.

– That arrangement have anything to do with giving Predo passage down here so he could pop in on me?

Terry shrugs.

– Well, I did grant a transit. But I didn't ask questions about how they would use it.

– That was part of the arrangement?

– One must bend to avoid breaking, Joe.

– Thought you didn't look too concerned about Predo being at my place and all.

– That's not fair. I'm always concerned about you. You're a friend.

– Sure. That why I'm here? Friendship?

He leans forward in his chair.

– I'd like to think that all our arrangements are made on the basis of friendship. But Tom is right. There has been a great deal going on. And I am very interested in hearing your side of it.

– Fair enough.

I take a moment to get my story together.

– So it's like this, Terr, there was some trouble.

I stop. Terry nods encouragingly.

– And I took care of it.

Terry waits. And waits some more. And smiles.

– Is that really the way you want to handle this, Joe?

– Yeah, it really is.

– OK, OK, man. That's fair. But it raises other issues.

– Like?

– Well, you know how I feel about capitalism, no fan of the WTO am I. But there are advantages to doing things on a quid pro quo basis. Like a barter economy. So let's put this on a goods and services level.

– How so?

– Well, like the Dusters. That cost something, asking them to go uptown and pick you up. Not to mention that it aggravated an already sensitive relationship with the Coalition. So that's one, I don't know, call it one unit.

He holds up a finger.

– On a less tangible level, there's just the general bad vibes you've been stirring up around here that last couple days.

He holds up a second finger.

– You're also asking us to kind of, I don't know, take it on faith that whatever's been in the air is cool. That's trust, Joe. That's, and I hate to put it in these terms, but that's an expensive commodity. So that might need a little extra compensation.

Two more fingers.

– And then there's the cleanup I hear Tom did on that Leprosy kid and his dog. Now that's a big service, but I know you liked that kid and whatever went down must have been tough on you. So.

He sticks up his thumb, shows me his open hand.

– I'm not sure how to assign value to all of that. So maybe you have an idea of how to make us even on this deal. Because otherwise, I just don't see any way around it, we're going to have to insist on getting a little more information, a little more than just your say-so that things are gonna be cool. You get me?

– I get you. I come across with something worth something or you're gonna put me in a room with Tom and Hurley.

He puts his hand on the table.

– Don't be like that, Joe. The Society is a collective, man, I have to keep everybody happy. If it was up to me, I'd just take your word, shake hands and maybe ask you to buy me a beer. You know how I work.

– I know how you work, Terry.

He grins.

– Sure you do. So.

The grin goes away.

– What you got, Joe?

I pull the case out of my back pocket and set it on the table. The hinge creaks open. He looks at the teeth. Looks at me and raises his eyebrows.

– It's a bomb, Terry. Set it off and all hell will break loose.

I don't tell him everything. But I tell him enough. And he likes it.

– What the fuck?

Tom is standing on the sidewalk with Hurley when Terry brings me out.

– Easy, Tom.

– Where the fuck does he think he's going?

– He's going his own way, Tom, just like all of us have to.

– Fuck his way! You can't just.

– Cool it, OK? You want to be security chief, you have to learn that it sometimes involves some subtlety, some grace.

– Fuck subtlety. You can't make a decision like this on your own.

There needs to be a hearing and a vote.

I get out a smoke.

– You know, Tom…

I light it.

– You are one lousy anarchist.

His hand goes in his pocket and comes out with the revolver he took off me. Before he can point it at me it's in Terry's hand and Tom is on the ground. Terry looks down at him.

– Joe is gonna take off, Tom. He's walking clean. That's the way it's gonna be and there's not going to be a vote. Hurley, take him back in.

Hurley helps Tom off the sidewalk and they head for the door.

Tom stares at the sidewalk the whole way, tears of rage boiling down his cheeks.

I watch till he's inside, then shoot a look at Terry.

– Still got the moves.

He tilts his head and shrugs.

– The tools of the oppressor have to be used sometimes.

– Sure.

I point at his hand.

– That's my gun.

Terry looks at the revolver, then holds it out to me.